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NBA World Champion, fashion extraordinaire and author, Dwyane Wade, was in Sweetwater Saturday discussing his new book and fatherhood, a responsibility he said plays a critical role in all communities. (Published Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012)

NBA World Champion, fashion extraordinaire and author Dwyane Wade was in Sweetwater, Fla., Saturday discussing his new book about fatherhood, a responsibility he said plays a critical role in all communities.

“I like to say fatherhood has no color, in a sense,” he told NBC 6 South Florida.

The Miami Heat star signed books at Sports Authority in Dolphin Mall, just one of his many stops to promote A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball.

“I understand the importance of fatherhood in my life when I was growing up, and I understand the mentors that I had in my life that shaped me into the person that I am today,” he said.

The star added that one of the reasons he wrote the book was for readers to understand that he, like some of his fans, has experienced difficulties.

“Someone who they look at as having it all together and having everything, you know, just kind of letting them know listen, it’s okay to go through these things, I went through them, and I’m better for it, but these are the reasons,” he told NBC 6 South Florida.

Referencing the title of the book, he told reporters that fatherhood was one of his many accomplishments that came after the NBA.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “When you’re young, you have the vision to play basketball and you want to do great things, and then as you get older, you start to understand how many great things can come from that.”

Wade has yet to read the book to his sons, who appear on the cover with him, but said the family plans to get to it in the summer when they aren’t focusing on school.